Truth and Lies
by NicolaPotter
Summary: Modern au. Arthur comes home from school to find his sister Morgana has disappeared after finding out something his father had kept from them both for years. He enlists the help of his friend Gwen to help him look for Morgana, determined to find her before something happens to her. Merlin gets mixed up in it all, finding that his forgotten secrets are suddenly important again.
1. The Price of Lies

Hi there! This is my first Merlin fanfiction that has gotten to a point where it's able to be put up for your reading pleasure, so I hope you enjoy it! I intend to update pretty frequently, but I can't really guarantee anything.

Enjoy and please drop me a review saying what you thought, whether it's positive or negative!

"Where's Morgana?" Arthur Pendragon asked his father, sitting down in his favorite armchair. He hadn't been back to his old home since he'd started college in the fall and the familiarity eased him, allowing him to finally let go of the stress university was placing on him.

"She's, ah, not here," Uther said delicately. Arthur frowned. It wasn't like Morgana to not be there to see him; she'd always been the first to greet him whenever he got back from boarding school in previous years.

"Is she at Gwen's or something? When will she be home?" Arthur said, surprising himself with his eagerness to see her. It was hard to believe that they hadn't grown up as siblings, that he'd only known her since he was twelve and Uther had, without any explanation, adopted her. They had become friends quickly, not that either of them was willing to admit that. Theirs was somewhat of a love-hate relationship.

"No, actually, she's not at Gwen's," Uther was saying, speaking slowly and almost anxiously. "At least, not that I'm aware of."

"What do you mean? Where is she?" Arthur said impatiently. Uther leaned back in his chair, lips pursed in an expression torn between distaste and apprehension.

"I'm afraid that I don't know."

Arthur stared at him, uncomprehending. "_What_?"

"She left, two months ago. We haven't been in contact since." Uther was avoiding his son's eyes, but he didn't look particularly sad. He seemed more fearful of Arthur's reaction, and for very good reason. Arthur didn't know what to say, but he knew that this was not good—not good at all.

"She's _sixteen_," he finally settled on, staring at his father. Uther had doted on his stepdaughter; this didn't tally at all with the person Arthur knew his father was. How the hell wasn't he going mad with worry over Morgana? "What happened? Why did she leave? _Why haven't you found her_?"

"She doesn't want to be found, Arthur," he said, voice sharpening suddenly. "Obviously I contacted the police, but they haven't seen a trace of her anywhere."

Arthur gaped at him, struggling to take it all in. Morgana was gone. _Gone_. She'd disappeared and he hadn't heard a word of it. More than that, Uther was sitting in front of him, completely unconcerned that his stepdaughter, probably his favorite of his children, was who knew where. "Why don't you care?" Arthur asked roughly. Uther stared at him, plainly surprised.

"Of course I care, Arthur, but there's nothing I can do. She made it quite clear that she no longer wants to have anything to do with this family."

"Why not?"

Uther sighed heavily. "She…well, she found something out that she was not very happy about."

"And what was that?" Arthur asked. Despite the anger that was raging inside of him, he was strangely calm. Of course, that was just the effect his father had on him; emotions were not particularly encouraged in his house.

"I'm not sure that I want to answer that."

"Father," Arthur began flatly, "I have just found out that my sister has disappeared from the face of the earth. You're going to tell me why she left, and you're going to tell me now."

Uther looked taken aback for a moment, eyebrows rising, but then he sighed. "As you wish, Arthur."

An hour later, Arthur sat by himself in his room, looking at the window without seeing the steadily-darkening sky. Uther had left, gone to the office to finish some work. Alone at last, he could have cursed his father's name to high heaven if he'd liked, but his heart wasn't into it anymore.

Morgana was his sister. Not his sister like he'd thought, adopted into the family, but his _real_ sister. No, that wasn't right; she'd always been his real sister. His biological sister.

He couldn't believe it. His bastard father had gone and gotten someone pregnant, then left her to deal with it on her own, watching from afar as she pretended it was her husband's baby. He hadn't even done anything when she'd died a few months later; Uther had waited to go near Morgana until her "father" had died as well. And even then, he hadn't been willing to admit she was his kid. He'd probably never had told the truth if Morgana hadn't found letters to him from some friend Arthur had never heard of, keeping him posted on her (undeniably tragic) life.

Arthur couldn't blame her for getting out the moment she found out, but that didn't make him feel any less horrified that his sister was on her own, somewhere out in the world. She could be starving on street corner for all he knew. Maybe she had become a prostitute or drug dealer to support herself! If that was true, there was nothing on this earth that would keep him from murdering his father. How the _hell_ could he have done something like this?

He could see Uther's car coming up the street towards the house. A wave of revulsion seized him and he knew he couldn't stay with his father for another minute. Grabbing a piece of paper, Arthur scribbled, 'I've gone to visit some friends, I might stay with them for a few days. I have my mobile if you need to contact me. –Arthur".

Leaving the note on the counter, Arthur picked up his suitcase, still packed, and left out the back. He wouldn't be able to get his car, since it was in the driveway where Uther was pulling in at this very moment, but it wasn't a long walk to the main part of town.

In ten minutes, Arthur was at an apartment building, pressing the buzzer for number twelve. He hadn't originally known where he was going, but he had found himself across the street and knew that there was nowhere better.

"Hello?" a voice said, crackling slightly through the intercom.

"Hi, Gwen. It's Arthur Pendragon. Can I come in?"


	2. Questions

**Hi! Second chapter in one day, that's odd. Don't get used it, although it's altogether possible that there will be another today as well. Crazy, right? Anyway, I hope you like it! I really appreciate reviews, too. Just sayin'.**

The apartment Gwen shared with her older brother Elyan was not, strictly speaking, a particular large or even very nice place. But Arthur couldn't help but like it; it looked exactly like it had last time he was there over a year ago. The furniture was mismatched and old and their TV didn't get more a couple channels, and everything was jammed into four small rooms, a kitchen/dining room, living room, and two bedrooms. Even so, Gwen had managed to make it look more like a _home_ than any of the three houses-bordering-on-mansions Arthur had lived in ever could. There were photographs everywhere, mainly of Gwen and Elyan, but he saw one of himself, Gwen, and Morgana together and felt his heart constrict slightly.

He'd explained everything about Morgana as soon as he'd come inside, although Gwen already knew a little of the story from her friends who were still in high school and had noticed Morgana's absence. Gwen herself had graduated with Arthur, but wasn't going to college; she didn't have the money.

"So, Arthur, how are we going to find her?" Gwen asked in a brisk, businesslike voice, setting a chipped cup of tea down in front of him. He took a sip from in and grinned in spite of his worry. Only Gwen ever had this kind of strawberry tea.

"I have no idea," he said honestly. "When was the last time you saw her?"

Gwen frowned, brown eyes crinkling up as she tried to remember. "It was the fourteenth of November. I remember because, well…"

"Why?" Arthur prompted. She immediately turned pink, looking away to try and hide it from him. He grinned. "Come on, Gwen, just tell me."

"It's just…that was the day when Lancelot and I—when Lancelot asked me out."

"_What_?" Arthur gaped at her. "You never mentioned this!"

"I wanted to tell you when I saw you, but now didn't seem like the right to mention it," Gwen said, doing an admirable job of pretending that she wasn't blushing intensely. "Anyway, I saw her that day, the day she disappeared. She came by the coffee shop—that's where I'm working now—and seemed like she wanted to talk to me, except I was too busy, so she said she'd wait. Halfway through my shift, though, she left with some guy, saying she'd call me later, but she never did."

"Some guy?" Arthur demanded, protective instincts kicking in. "Who?"

"I'm not sure." Gwen set her teacup down on the coffee table, biting her lip. "I'd never seen him before. He wasn't from school, though, I'm sure of that. I think she called him Merlin."

"Merlin? What kind of name is that?" Arthur said, racking his brains, hoping he'd met someone called that before. It didn't ring any bells.

"The most I can tell you about him beyond that is that he's really skinny with black hair," Gwen offered. Behind her, a key turned in the lock and the door opened. A man with short-cropped dark hair and a heavy look in his eyes came inside, starting at the sight of Arthur.

"Hello Elyan," Arthur said, nodding at him. "Er—sorry to just show up like this, but I needed somewhere to stay for a few days and Gwen said I could sleep on the couch. I hope that isn't a problem..."

"No, not at all," Elyan said, despite his uncertain expression. "Hey, Gwen, I need to talk to you about something. Is this a good time?"

"Yeah, it's fine." She got up and turned to Arthur. "You can watch TV or use the computer or whatever if you like."

"Thanks." Arthur went over to the computer, which was a surprisingly recent model. He guessed Elyan had insisted they buy it, since Gwen had never been particularly concerned about technology.

Finding a telephone directory for the town online, Arthur searched 'Merlin', hoping against hope that something would come up and they'd have a solid lead on Morgana. Nothing. Feeling desperate, he googled 'Merlin' as well; only links about the wizard showed up. Useless internet.

Gwen came back in the room, looking worried. Arthur hardly noticed, preoccupied by cursing the computer. She came up behind him, saying, "I doubt you're going to find anything on there."

"There's no record of anyone named Merlin in the phone book," Arthur reported. "I guess he doesn't exist."

"Or he's not from around here or he doesn't have a phone or any number of other explanations." Gwen sighed heavily. "Never mind. I'm going out with Lance tonight, so you'll be on your own, I'm afraid."

"_Lance_?" Arthur said incredulously. "When did you start calling him that?"

"Shut up, Arthur," Gwen said with an impressive show of disdain. "If you want to go out, you won't be able to get back in until I come home at eleven. Elyan will be sleeping and we don't have an extra key."

"That's alright. I think I'm going to get some dinner and just, I dunno, walk around or something," Arthur said. "Have fun on your date."

"Thanks! Bye!" Gwen left the apartment, pausing only to touch up her lipstick in the mirror and grab her purse. She absent-mindedly turned off the light on the way out.

Sitting alone in the darkness, Arthur didn't know what to think. This wasn't how his Christmas vacation was supposed to go. He had expected to spend the time hanging out with Morgana and catching up with friends from high school, not living at a friend's apartment with no idea of what he was going to do about, well, anything. He blamed Uther for it all, that damn idiot.

With nothing else to do, Arthur walked over to where he'd left his suitcase to get his coat. It was bound to be cold outside. Riffling through his crumpled clothes (he wasn't much for packing), his hand brushed up against something solid. Curious, he pulled it out and felt a lump rise in his throat. It was the Christmas gift he'd bought for Morgana. It had taken him nearly half an hour to wrap it, since he had been set on keeping her from mocking his messiness. Now she wouldn't…

He shook his head sharply, stopping quickly, sure he looked insane. Setting the present back down carefully, his resolve to find Morgana increased tenfold. She _would_ be there for Christmas and he'd give her his present. He didn't care if he had to search the entire country for her. He'd do everything he could to find this Merlin or anyone else who might be able to help find her. There was no way she was missing Christmas, that was for sure.


End file.
